TransCore to design, build Houston’s ITS

Nashville, Tenn. — The City of Houston awarded TransCore a $33.6 million contract to design and build an Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) that will be deployed across 489 intersections throughout the city. The new system will be fully integrated with the City’s multi-agency partnership, Houston TranStar, and the City’s traffic management center, enabling traffic engineers and emergency operators to immediately detect, respond to, and share real-time information with the traveling public. The project is expected to be completed in early 2020.

Over the next three years, TransCore will design and install:

91 new Dynamic Message Signs

113 roadside cameras

144 solar-powered, mid-block radar detection sites

489 traffic signal detection sites

“Our population is expected to grow by 50 percent over the next 20 years. This equates to another two million travelers on our local roads,” said Alanna Reed, Public Information Officer for the Department of Public Works and Engineering, City of Houston. “This smart technology infrastructure will enable us to prepare for this growth and provide the residents of Houston greater mobility across the region.”

The ITS system will continuously monitor some of Houston’s busiest streets. Through real-time data collection and monitoring from roadside equipment, traffic engineers can stay abreast of current traffic conditions and even predict those locations and times that have a greater likelihood of incidents. The system will immediately dispatch emergency personnel when needed, as well as alert motorists of changing roadway conditions by automatically posting updates on dynamic message signs.

“As major metropolitan cities continue to grow, the use of intelligent transportation systems has enabled local governments to increase mobility, lower environmental impacts of congestion, and make our roadways safer,” said Clint Holley, Houston-based vice president and southwest managing director, TransCore. “We are excited to work with the City of Houston to deploy a state-of-the-art, city-wide ITS system that brings these important innovations to all of us,” he said.

Throughout the U.S. and internationally, TransCore has deployed innovative intelligent traffic management solutions, including the world’s largest traffic control system in New York City. For over 30 years, TransCore has partnered with agencies throughout the state of Texas to implement ground-breaking transportation initiatives. In Houston, TransCore developed the country’s first wrong-way detection system, and in 2015, TransCore completed another milestone project, the largest reversible High-Occupancy Vehicle to High Occupancy Toll lane conversion.